Over the past year, the tech world has been abuzz about the metaverse. Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft are investing billions. But there is a metaverse that has been up and running for decades. It is called Second Life and it was created by a small San Francisco company named Linden Lab. There, people have started businesses, built homes, and fallen in love—all as avatars.
In a new four-part podcast series from The Journal, producer Annie Minoff heads back into that largely forgotten virtual world to tell the story of the metaverse we already have, and what it reveals about the one that is coming. We hear from the founder of Linden Lab and early employees, and people who have had lives in this world for years.